A blog for the United States branch of the global Centre for Fortean Zoology

At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

1888: In London, still unidentified serial killer "Jack
the Ripper" perpetrates his "double event," killing two women on
the same evening. Victims include streetwalkers Catherine Eddowes and Elizabeth
"Long Liz" Stride.

2008: Direct-to-video release of the horror/comedy film
Yeti: A Love Story, wherein college students face danger from a "ravenous
gay Yeti," as well as a homicidal cult.

Monday, 29 September 2014

That is a digitally enhanced photograph of the Dobharchu, a monster said to be found in lakes in Ireland and off the Irish coast. Sean Corcoran, an Irish artist, made the above digitalized picture of it after he had seen it in Fahy Lough on Omey Island, off the Galway coast.Tomorrow, I hit the trail for Omey Island with a Canadian television team which is making documentaries about monsters. Therefore, I will not be making contributions to this website until Friday. I know this is probably a source of considerable disappointment to all those readers out there who hang on my every word, but I will give you all the details when I get back.If you want to know more about the Dobharchu, there are a couple of articles on the subject on the website. You will also find information on this creature in Mystery Animals of Ireland by Gary Cunningham and me.

Sunday, 28 September 2014

The Pocumtuck Indians of Massachussetts had a legend of a giant beaver. In days of yore there had been a lake near where Mount Sugar Loaf stands today and in this the beaver frolicked, a-gobbling of the fish. However, when fish supplies became exhausted, he ventured ashore and began to eat humans. He was too big for the braves to fight, but happily a supernatural being called Hobomock came to the rescue. He fought the beaver and beheaded it with his cudgel. The beaver turned to stone and its head became Mount Sugar Loaf.Does this mean the Pocumtuck had a legend of a giant beaver, based on an animal that once lived near them? There certainly had been a gigantic beaver in North America (Castoroides ohioensis), whose fossilized remains have been discovered. Zoologists think it may have survived until as late as BC 8000. But I have my doubts that this legend preserves a genuine memory of this creature.This strikes me as more of an etiological myth. Myths of this type are used to explain the origin of natural features. My feeling is that the story of the Sugar Loaf beaver was concocted to explain the mountain.However, in modern times, a giant beaver has been reported from Utah. It was observed in Lake Powell in 2002. Maybe Castoroides ohioensis has left some descendants after all.

2010: Theatrical release of the short animated film Monster
in the Woods, written, directed, and "starring" Randall McNair as
the titular monster. Its critical assessment reads "A monster, a girl, the
moment light meets dark. In the tradition of the Brother's Grim, this fairy
tale about loss, love, and loneliness, may be a bit scary for young
children...unless they're British."

This link brings you to an interesting feature on Australia's mystery reptiles, especially those that seem to be versions of the goanna, an Australian lizard not related to the similar sounding iguana.

What was thie eerie being? There seem to be a number of encounters of this kind coming in at present. When you hear a first hand account like this one, it is difficult to use urban myth as an explanation.now read on....

1954: A French witness, Mme. Leboeuf, reoirts a daylight UFO
landing near Chabeuil, in the Rhône-Alpes region. She says a lone occupant
emerged from the craft, approximately three feet tall, with large eyes visible
inside the helmet of a costume resembling a deep-sea diving suit. The witness
flees, later returning to find a circle of crushed foliage at the site.

Wednesday, 24 September 2014

1808: A classic globster, the "Stronsay Beast,"
washes ashore on the island of Stronsay (then spelled "Stronsa") in
the Orkney Islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, following a storm. The
carcass measures 55 feet, with part of its tail clearly missing. While
initially believed to be a sea serpent, by 1849 general consensus labels the
creature a decomposed basking shark—although the largest official specimen of
that species known to science measured only 40 feet.

1922: Future horror director Bert Ira Gordon born in
Kenosha, Wisconsin. His 21 feature films, produced between 1955 and 1990,
include such cult classics as The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth Vs. The
Spider, and War of the Colossal Beast.

2013: Herpetologist Robert C. Stebbins, the preeminent
expert on North American reptiles and amphibians—and onetime searcher for
reported giant salamanders in California's Trinity Alps—dies in Eugene, Oregon,
at age 95.

The Ethiopians claim the original Ark of the Covenant is in their possession. However, outsiders have rarely if ever seen it. However, it may now have to be moved from its Chapel owing to a leaky roof.Ethiopian tradition asserts that Emperor Menelik I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, brought the Ark to Ethiopia.now read on....

A story, apparently true, from Germany, dealing with the Underground People, whom we should probably regard as a type of fairy. The story involving a human acting as midwife occurs in a number of other places. Could it have been a fairly regular happening, rather than mere folklore?now read on....

There seems to be a fairly widespread assumption that lake monsters and sea-monsters are plesiosaurs. This assumption owes its origin to a number of factors, which we shall consider below.According to the fossil record, the plesiosaur died out 66 million years ago, but the fossil record is incomplete, so we cannot use that argument to say plesiosaurs did not survive beyond that date.Plesiosaur remains were discovered as early as 1605 and the creature was named in 1821. It is presumed it was a cold-blooded creature. Because of its long neck and humped back, it conforms in some respects to descriptions of lacustrine and marine monsters. Also, creatures washed up on the shore sometimes look like plesiosaurs.With regard to the creatures washed onto the shoreline, they generally turn out to be the harmless basking shark. When one of these starts to decompose, sections of it rot away, leaving a remnant that resembles the outline of a plesiosaur. The Zuiyo-Maru monster, fished out of the sea in 1977, proved to be a decaying basking shark.Sometimnes monsters, including him of Loch Ness, are described as beings with a hump and a head on the end of a slender neck, held upright. From this we can infer that such monsters are certainly not plesiosaurs, as it has been shown that it was quite impossible for them to raise their heads.Whatever sea serpents and the Loch Ness Monster may be, we can rule out plesiosaurs.

1870: A local newspaper, The Republican, reports
posses pursuing a "wild man" near San Joaquin, California. The
"man" creature left 13-inch footprints, well within the possible
normal range for an adult male human.